The Texas Senate has advanced a bill to study the costs to the state of undocumented immigration. Republicans blocked any consideration in the proposed study of the economic benefits such immigrants contribute to the state.
Senate Bill 825 would require the governor’s office to provide the Legislature with an annual report on the negative impacts on the state's economy posed by people who are in the United States without legal status. State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) is the bill's author.
"Of course, we're a border state that faces unique challenges related to illegal immigration, including law enforcement costs, health care services, education, and a strain on our infrastructure," Middleton said. "However, there has yet to be a specific statewide study and comprehensive analysis of these impacts."
In fact, the state comptroller's office conducted such a study in 2006, when the late Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Republican, held the office. As several Democratic senators noted Tuesday, that study considered not only the costs to the state of undocumented immigration but the benefits it generated as well. Those benefits included labor performed in sectors ranging from construction to agriculture and meat packing as well as consumer spending by the people who held those jobs.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) noted that the 2006 study found people without legal status contributed a net benefit to the state of $424 million. Middleton, however, said he disagreed with the findings of the 2006 study.
"Your report doesn't look to study any kind of benefit, does it?" Gutierrez said, pressing Middleton on the need for a balanced approach to generate useful data for policymakers.
"Well, Senator," Middleton said, "we're not in the habit in this chamber to spend taxpayer dollars to study the benefit of breaking our laws."
Middleton recently declared himself a candidate for the Republican nomination for Texas attorney general, following Attorney General Ken Paxton's decision to seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat now held by John Cornyn.
State Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa (D-McAllen) raised a similar concern to that of Gutierrez. He said he had supported the bill, but it was necessary to get a full, accurate picture of benefits as well as costs.
"Nobody's trying to encourage anybody to break the law. That's not what we're talking about at all. And we don't want anybody to break the law,” Hinojosa said. “All we want to see for us is to try to get a clear picture of what's going on. When you talk about costs, you can't just look at one side of the ledger. You have to look at both sides of the ledger."
State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin) tried introducing an amendment that would have required the study to use the same methodology as the 2006 comptroller's study.
"It does not put a thumb on the scale, and it will be truly unbiased," Eckhardt said. "The reason for proposing this is a biased study that only looks at negative impacts will not be broadly useful."
The amendment failed on a party-line vote, and the bill passed its second reading. It awaits a third reading and final passage before heading to the Texas House for consideration.
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